Stronger
by sailordarke
Summary: Slight AU. He was home again, in Konoha, and something was wrong. Slight SasuSaku and SaiSaku.


Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto.

* * *

It was wrong.

He was here again, in his own home--he was sharing an apartment with Naruto, if you can believe that because the moron can host a demon, disappear for years and come back to Konoha and still keep his apartment, but Sasuke could be gone for the same amount of time and come back to find himself homeless.

He was here again, and working to defend Konoha--they were idiots for even taking him back, knowing what he'd done, but he isn't about to complain, since the last time he'd tried they all--Naruto, Sakura and even Kakashi--took turns hitting him upside the head. So he's back, and staying, because there is nothing left for him to do.

He was here again, and things were almost the same, but better--no more women following behind him, bothering him within an inch of his life; they mostly left him alone, and the few that did show up were more than creepy enough to make up for that number. Whenever they come nearby, though, he makes sure to disappear; they always interrupt his training.

He was here again, and Itachi was gone.

But he wasn't the only one. That, really, was what was so wrong.

Sakura was gone.

He was here again, and Sakura was gone.

* * *

He didn't understand why she was so driven to destroy Akatsuki. Why she'd gotten in between him and Itachi, that one fateful time. She wanted Akatsuki, and she wasn't beyond using him to get to them.

He didn't understand the rage in her eyes whenever she saw them. Didn't recognize it in anyone other than himself.

She knelt there panting, wiping blood out of her eyes with a calmness that chilled him--so different from the Sakura he knew. She watched him with those green eyes, that unfamiliar look in them, and asked quietly:

"Why did you push me away?"

_Because he was going to kill you_, he wanted to say. He said nothing.

She understood anyway.

* * *

She was a medic-nin, and he was almost glad, because it kept her out of trouble. After that last scene, she started hiding back again, out of danger, with Sai. (He only knew that name because she kept reminding him, and glared at him until he finally got it--though she hadn't minded before)

He and Naruto would handle the mission (though he could do it on his own), and she would heal whatever scrapes they got, and the artist would keep her from getting hurt.

It worked, he thought.

She stopped trailing after him, and after a while stopped appearing without warning at his home, just to see how he was doing. Eventually, she noticed that they didn't get hurt very seriously on their missions, and said that they could just come see her at the hospital, since they needed her there more than with them.

He smiled when he heard that, satisfied. And then he was working with Naruto and Sai, and occasionally Kakashi and Yamato.

And Sakura just sort of slipped out of the edges of his life.

* * *

When they needed a medic-nin on a high-risk mission, Sakura would be there, and they would go on. But he noticed that they--he--they--all made stupid risks to protect her, and she would be forced to heal more than she would otherwise.

All except for that idiot Sai, he noticed. He never did anything to protect her, and somehow things worked out anyway.

That always annoyed_amused_irritated him.

And he still didn't know why Sakura always hung out with him anyway.

Eventually, Sakura stopped agreeing to their missions--because that only increased their danger. She introduced them to a new medic-nin, the Hokage's assistant Shizune, who could obviously take care of herself, and he was pleased. A little proud of her.

She obviously knew her limits, and now they wouldn't have to save her all the time.

Within two weeks, Shizune almost died twice, and he was glad that it wasn't Sakura, because she _would _be dead--and he yelled at Sai, because the artist was supposed to protect her.

Afterward, Yamato would also stay there, but whether that was because Sasuke had somehow become team leader or because they were afraid he was going to kill someone was still under question.

* * *

One day, while they were home after a mission, Naruto looked over at him with a decidedly blank expression.

"You know, I haven't seen Sakura-chan around lately."

"So?"

He shrugged. "Just thought you might have seen her more recently. I haven't seen her since she went out with Neji and Shikamaru to Earth Country. But that was weeks ago."

He just looked at him. "She what? I thought she was working in the hospital."

"Well, yeah. She does that sometimes, but she fills in for every group that goes out of Konoha. I thought you knew."

He stared. "I didn't."

But now that he did, he went directly to the hospital and let her know that he knew--and caused such a ruckus that no other teams would take her on. Unless it was theirs.

And since Sakura didn't say anything, he figured she didn't mind too much.

* * *

And _then _she started working as an envoy.

She visited the Sand village twice a month, and Sasuke kind of had the idea that she went somewhere else from there, and she wasn't just working with Konoha ninja but also nin from a country they'd been warring with for ages.

He'd had three fits and a duck, but she would always deny these allegations every time he mentioned it, and he was only slightly relieved that she worked with Sai on most of these missions.

He'd take care of her, for sure. They were friends.

At least, he thought so until he heard about their favorite mission--that apparently involved Sai shoving Sakura off a cliff, where she fell underwater, unconscious, and was fished out several miles downstream by some big, bad missing-nin. Two days later, they met up again, caught not only the villain but several of his friends, and made quite a name for themselves in that village, who had been oppressed by the group for years.

According to them, they'd immediately gone home to celebrate, and had been drunk for a week.

It took six people to pry him off of Sai after he heard this, and the entire town heard him yell that he would never work with her again--of course, Sai never did.

And again, Sakura said nothing.

* * *

She was still an envoy, and when he talked to her about it--all right, yelled--she said there was one more mission she had to do for them before she could come back. There was no real danger--the hardest thing would be getting there--and all she had to do was shake hands with a few people, take a quick look around to assess the base's strength, and come back to make her report so that they could make their attack.

No big problem.

And he still wasn't happy when she finally left, until she brought up that one person could get in and out more quickly, and people were bound to recognize their best ninjas' faces if she went in there with them.

So she went.

And stayed.

For three long weeks.

That quickly turned into months.

And finally a year and a half.

By then, he was more feral than Gaara, and was ready--beyond ready--to go in there after her. And was afraid that what they brought home would be a body.

* * *

What she didn't tell him was that the place she was going into was Akatsuki territory. What she didn't tell him was that the base she was investigating was their own village--Konoha. What she didn't say was that she was working against them all.

That was why she wasn't going with them--because their own home was bound to recognize them if they attacked it.

He stared at her, covered in blood that she casually licked off of her hand, standing over the ruined remains of their once-Hokage. Her own teacher.

"Why?"

He didn't recognize the look in her eyes. He didn't recognize it on anyone but himself.

"Because I need to get stronger."

* * *

**Note**: This bothered me yesterday, until I had to write it. Of course, I'm still fifty shades of tempted to write a Sakura vs Itachi fic, because you all _know _that she can take him out in fifteen seconds or less, right? She can beat him on his own playground.

But then, after she beats him blind, I keep thinking that he'll stab her in the back and then Sasuke will have to kill him. You know.


End file.
